Random post

Fashion vs Faith?

I am writing this post in response to what I have seen some people writing about my blog. Everyone is free to criticize my work as they see fit, and I have no problem with that. But I wanted to clear up a few things that people (who have obviously not bothered to actually read my posts) have been saying.

Firstly, the type of clothing I show here all meets the basic requirements of Islamic dress; i.e. to cover everything except face, hands and feet, and to be loose enough to conceal the figure. No where in Islam does it say that we must dress head to toe in black sheets. For some reason, many people believe that anything other than this is unacceptable. What is wrong with looking neat, polished and presentable? What is wrong with wearing blues, greens and pinks? In fact a hadith in Sahih Al-Bukhari (Volume 7, Book 72, Hadith # 715) mentions that a woman at the time of the Prophet (saw) was wearing a green veil. Women in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia wear brightly coloured clothes outside, as that is the norm for their society. If you wore black you would probably stick out more!

Secondly, I am sick and tired of people who have the attitude that a woman who does not wear hijab is somehow less of a Muslim than one who does, just because she doesn't wear hijab, regardless of anything else. I constantly hear statements such as 'the woman who veils most is the most precious in Allah's eyes'. Last time I checked, the most precious woman was the one who has the greatest taqwa.

Yes hijab is important, yes it is compulsory, but so are many other things. Why do we focus so much on whether a woman is wearing hijab, rather than on her character and her behaviour? To illustrate this, there are prostitutes in Egypt who wear hijab. On the other hand, I know many non-hijab wearing women who are modest in character, polite in speech, observe their 5 daily prayers and fast in Ramadan. Are you still convinced that the second woman is not as good as the first?

Thirdly, I am not here to turn hijab into a 'fashion'. I think I've made that obvious since the caption underneath my title says 'fashions change, style endures'. This means that our style is and always will be hijab inshallah. If we were followers of fashion, we would not be covering our bodies! We would be out in oh-so-trendy midi skirts and tightly belted dresses. All I aim to do is encourage women to wear and stick to hijab, without making them feel that the only option they have is a black burkha. What better way to advertise Islam and make it more accessible to non-Muslims than by looking neat, modern, modest and having the best of manners at the same time?